In order to achieve driving support of a vehicle, it is necessary to mount on a vehicle body a sensor for acquiring information outside the vehicle. There has been known a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor as one example of such a sensor (for example, see JP-A-2010-185769). The LiDAR sensor is a device for emitting invisible light and acquiring information on a distance to an object and an attribute of the object based on a reflected light.
From a viewpoint of efficiently acquiring information on surroundings of the vehicle and from a viewpoint of design, it is desired to dispose the sensor in a lamp room of the lamp device provided at four corners of the vehicle. However, since the sensor for acquiring information outside the vehicle based on invisible light generally has a relatively large volume, the sensor tends to be subject to layout restriction in the lamp room.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention improves layout freedom of a sensor for acquiring information outside a vehicle based on invisible light.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lamp device to be mounted on a vehicle, the lamp device including:
a housing;
a first translucent member defining a housing space together with the housing;
a lamp unit housed in the housing space and including a light source;
a sensor housed in the housing space and configured to detect information outside the vehicle based on invisible light; and
a second translucent member housed in the housing space and covering the sensor,
wherein the second translucent member has transmittance of visible light lower than that of the first translucent member.
In the above lamp device, the sensor may include at least one of a LiDAR sensor, a millimeter wave radar, an ultrasonic sensor, and an infrared camera.
According to such a configuration, the second translucent member can function as a filter. Specifically, transmission of the light not used for detection by the sensor, particularly transmission of visible light can be suppressed. Such a filter is generally provided in the sensor itself in order to reduce influence of disturbance light to a detection result. In the above configuration, since the second translucent member disposed in the housing space can functions as such a filter, a structure for the filter function can be omitted from the sensor. That is, a size of the sensor can be reduced. Therefore, the layout freedom in the housing space of the sensor for acquiring the information outside the vehicle based on the invisible light can be improved.
Generally, an appearance of the sensor is largely different from an appearance of the lamp unit. Therefore, compared with a conventional lamp device in which only the lamp unit is housed in the housing space, a user may feel unnaturalness for the appearance. Since the second translucent member has the transmittance of visible light lower than that of the first translucent member, the second translucent member has a gray or black appearance. Accordingly, it is possible to make it difficult to visually recognize the sensor disposed in the housing space from the outside of the vehicle. Therefore, deterioration of design can be suppressed.
In the above lamp device, the second translucent member may have flexibility higher than that of the first translucent member.
According to this configuration, the second translucent member can function as a cushioning material when a strong shock along with displacement of the sensor is applied to the lamp device.
In the above lamp device, the second translucent member may have an appearance simulating the lamp unit.
According to this configuration, the second translucent member may be visually recognized as the lamp unit. Accordingly, an appearance similar to the conventional lamp device in which only the lamp unit is housed in the lamp room can be provided. Therefore, the unnatural feeling given to the user by disposing the sensor in the housing space can be further suppressed.
In the above lamp device, the second translucent member may be a part of an extension member.
According to this configuration, a part of the extension member which is originally disposed in the housing space can function as a filter for the sensor. Therefore, not only the unnatural feeling given to the user can be suppressed, but also space utilization efficiency in the housing space can be improved, by disposing the sensor in the housing space.